


Seeing the Sights

by sparrow2000



Series: Finding the Flaws [2]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 23:39:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17233331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparrow2000/pseuds/sparrow2000
Summary: The boys are on a post-Christmas getaway and Xander wants to explore. Spike has other ideas… (This is complete and total fluff, so be warned! *g*)This is a sequel to last year's Finding the Flaws





	Seeing the Sights

**Author's Note:**

> Written for noel_of_spike 2018  
> Warnings: Boy kissing and bad jokes  
> Disclaimer: Joss and Mutant Enemy et al own everything. I own nothing  
> Beta extraordinaire as always: thismaz  
> Comments are cuddled and called George

Xander settles down in front of his laptop, a note book, pen and a bunch of tourist brochures at his side, and a half empty box of Quality Street on the floor at his feet. He deliberately doesn’t look behind him. He doesn’t need to. He knows exactly what he’ll see.

Spike – sprawled on the bed, an obscenely high thread-count cream sheet pooled around his waist, bare chest, tousled hair, looking like every temptation Xander’s ever had and ever wanted.

“Xander…” The sing song purr of his name makes him shift in his seat and pull his robe around himself, armour against the siren song of that voice.

“Xan, love, what’re you doing?”

“Research.” That’s the way to do it. Keep it to one-word answers. Pithy. Unambiguous. Hard to screw up.

“Research?” Somehow when Spike says it, the word sounds anything but pithy. “Christ, you can take the boy away from the Scoobies, but you can’t take the Scooby out of the boy. What the fuck are you researching?”

“Edinburgh.” Xander’s clinging to the notion that if one ‘one word’ doesn’t work, try another and hope for the best.

“Edinburgh?” 

“That’s right.” Oh look, he’s graduated to two words – well, two and a half to be accurate. It might be progress or possibly a horrible mistake. He suspects it’s the latter.

“Why? We’re in Edinburgh. You can look out the window. There’s that big castle and you can see the top of the bloody Scott monument without shifting from bed. What the hell do you need to research?”

Xander gives into temptation and looks over his shoulder. Sure enough, Spike looks just like he knew he would. “I’m researching stuff to do in Edinburgh.”

“Stuff to do?”

“Yep. And it’s getting kind of annoying, you just repeating everything I’m saying.”

“I’m repeating it, love, because I’m hearing the words, but they’re not really making a whole lot of sense.”

“Research is what people do when they’re in a place they’ve never been to before. They find out things about it. You know, research?”

“I know what bloody research is, but the bit I’m stuck on is why?”

“If I don’t do any research, how will we know which tourist attractions to go to and what to avoid?”

“Tourist attractions?” It’s amazing how Spike can make two words sound like he was talking about cat vomit.

Spike shifts on the bed and the sheet slides a bit lower. Xander swallows hard and pulls his robe a little tighter. He knows a play when he sees one.

Spike drapes one arm carelessly across the pillows and gives the other shoulder a little roll. It does great things for his pecs. “There’s a whole multitude of attractions right here.”

Xander’s lizard brain explodes, but he’s determined for once he’s not going to let Spike talk him back into bed. It’s nearly new year, Hogmanay, he reminds himself, because they’re in Scotland and he has a resolution to keep. He knows how good he is at keeping resolutions, but there’s always a first time. Maybe. He straightens his spine. “Oh no. Not doing the seduction thing. That’s not playing fair.”

Spike rolls the shoulder again. “I can play anyway you like, love. What would you like to play?”

“Again with the no. We’ve not been out the hotel room since we got here. That was three days ago.”

“Your point being?”

“We’re on first name terms with room service and that little chambermaid probably has enough material for a really good true confessions article after we leave.”

“I can give her a few tips if she asks nicely.”

“Spike.” Xander can hear the edge of a whine in his voice, and he’s not ashamed to use it to get his way.

“Okay, joking, yeah? But you remember that’s why we came up here? To get away from your gang. From the Slayer and Red and the rest. To have some time to ourselves. We had Christmas with the chickies. Played nice. Now it’s our turn to play. We planned it last Christmas, so that we could do it this year, and we did, right?” Now it’s Spike who’s sounding whiny, and Xander knows it must be love, because he thinks it’s kind of cute.

“I know, and we had real fun planning it, and I’ve got to say, I’m amazed one of our plans actually came off, because our plans are usually really shitty. But since we’re here, away from the gang, I’d like to maybe see a bit of the city as well. You know Willow will ask and I’m not going to regale her with tales of our sex life.”

“She already knows about our sex life, love.”

“I know, but I’m sticking my fingers in my ears and pretending she doesn’t.”

Spike slides down the pillows and the sheet lands somewhere around his groin. If Xander wasn’t trying to have a relatively sensible discussion he’d admire the move for its sheer technique. “If she doesn’t want to hear about the buggery, she can bugger off.”

“You know, you really need to get some new material.”

“Don’t know what you mean?”

“Buggery and bugger off – you’re always finding ways to use those two in the same sentence, one way or another. It’s getting kind of old.”

Spike leans up on his elbows, but the sheet stays determinedly put – it’s like he’s peeled off the first layer of Christmas wrapping and the goodies are still temptingly wrapped in tissue paper – all tease and promise. “You saying you don’t like my patter?”

“I have no idea, because I haven’t a clue what you just said.”

“Patter. It’s a Glasgow thing – like a dialect – a piece of business.”

“I know I’m just the dumb American here, but even I know we’re not in Glasgow. We’re in Edinburgh.”

“I know that, you dozy git, but I’m English. It’s in my blood to think all Scots are the same.”

“Okay…” Xander really has no idea what to say to that, so he keeps his mouth shut and tries to keep his eyes off the top of the sheet, tissue paper, whatever – he lost the metaphor a while ago.

“Stanley Baxter did a brilliant series years ago called ‘Parliamo Glasgow’. It was all about patter. He used to do these great Christmas specials. There was a man who knew how to wear a dress long before Ru Paul came on the scene.”

“And the scary keeps on coming.”

Spike ripples from one face to the other and back, flashing a bit of fang. “You say the nicest things, love.”

“That’s me, always with a ready compliment, or a visit to the nearest asylum.”

“Haven’t been to a decent asylum in years. Dru used to like going.”

Xander pushes himself up off the chair and pulls the belt of his robe as tight as it will go. “Right that’s it. No tales of Dru loopiness. No trying to seduce me with your vampirey wiles. Out there is a city.” He turns and points to the window and when he turns back, Spike is sitting up, looking attentive. “We are going out and we’re going to see some of the sights.”

“’Course we are, love. What do you want to see first? The Castle? Or maybe Holyrood Palace? We could take a stroll up Calton Hill. It would be romantic. We could look down on the city and watch the Hogmanay fireworks, yeah?”

“You’re humouring me, aren’t you?” Xander knows humouring when he hears it. “You’d hate all those things and you know that I know you’d hate them, so you know I’ll not want to do them because I know that you’d hate them.” He pauses. “And because I’m an easy lay who always lets you get your way.”

“That’s why we work, love. Because we understand each other.” 

“Great. Now we’ve gone from humouring to patronising.”

Spike does a full body stretch. The sheet really doesn’t stand a chance and suddenly everything is right out in the open. “Is it working?”

“Fuck, yeah.” Xander takes one last look at the city skyline before pulling off his robe and tossing it in the general direction of the desk chair. It misses. He stands for a moment surveying the scene. Spike is back up against the pillows, both arms outstretched across the top, black fingernails gleaming against the heavy cream of the pillow cases – pale as an angel and wicked as the devil himself. Then he stretches again, back arching, abs pulled tight, a sculpture in flesh and bone displayed for Xander’s scrutiny.

And Xander scrutinises. For a second. Maybe two, before he walks forward and crawls up Spike’s body until they’re face to face. “Hi,” he says.

“Hi yourself.”

“Did you miss me?”

“Sure I did, love. Did you enjoy your trip?”

“It was okay. Edinburgh looks pretty neat. It’s got a nice skyline.”

“It does that.”

“I like this view better.”

“Got good taste.”

Xander leans forward and kisses him. “And you taste good.”

“What about Red and her questions?”

Xander does a little shimmy and the vibration makes the sheet slide off the bed altogether and land in a heap on the floor. He’s not bothered. It’s just the wrapping on a pretty nice post-Christmas present – the gift that keeps on giving, you might say.

“I’ll buy a guide book. Read it on the train back to London.”

“Bad to the bone you are, love. I like it.”

“I like it, too,” Xander whispers. “Less talking. I’ve got some sightseeing to do.”

Spike kisses him back and gives him the tour.

Best holiday season ever, Xander thinks when he comes up for air.

For once, Spike doesn’t disagree.

**Author's Note:**

> In Jan 2018 for the snowflake challenge I made myself a personal challenge to write and post a new piece of fic every month for the next 12 months. With this little piece, I fulfilled my challenge - yay!


End file.
